


the indelible you, inscribed in my being

by agcrazy



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Character Study, Fluff and Angst, Kink Exploration, M/M, Slow Build, Slow Burn, University
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-27 11:34:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6282979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agcrazy/pseuds/agcrazy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They say some love stories are eternal, but Kagami could never tell if theirs was one of those. All he knew was that this, their love, was far too full of contradictions to be felt across time and space like those transcendental ones. Sometimes he couldn't even tell if they were really in love or not, what with the cuts and bruises and permanent marks that dotted the experience. But maybe that was what made it real, and that was what made all the other happy moments all that much better.</p><p> </p><p>Or the one where everyone is in University and Kagami and Aomine slowly fall in love with each other, and mess up more often than not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> HI GUYS (￣▽￣)ノ
> 
> okay so there are going to be a lot more pairings and I will add those tags as they come along in the fic. Also, the main pairing would take very long to establish, so just a disclaimer I suppose. I know the summary almost makes it sound like an established pairing BUT THAT IS REALLY NOT THE CASE. It's gonna be a slow burn kinda thing. 
> 
> and RIGHT, so like this happened because I decided to rewatch KNB and like totally fell in love again with the AoKaga ship Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ  
> and suddenly wanted to explore that pairing and all the characters in my own way; and RIGHT WARNING OVER HERE READ PLEASE: there will be a lot of kink exploration in this fic (because let's face it, the GOM are probably a bunch of kinky fuckers), and various sexualities, but all of that would only come in after chapter 4 maybe? so not yet, basically
> 
> and okay, it's been like, what, 3 years? since my last fiction piece. I have only been writing academic essays ever since so if my writing feels weird, it's probably because of that. But hopefully it's not weird? IDEK :;(∩´﹏`∩);:
> 
> ANYWAY ENJOYYYYY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kagami, Kuroko, Kise and Aomine start to share an apartment, and moving in is unsurprisingly difficult with all the GOM doing nothing but creating more mess

Despite the fact that they have been friends for well over four years now, Kagami was pretty sure Kuroko would be the reason for his premature death any one of these days. Initially it had been the constant appearing and disappearing like a ghost playing tricks on him, but that was still alright because Kagami had gotten used to Kuroko’s abysmal lack of presence at some point and learned to always look out for him (it helped that that they became rather inseparable since their first year of high-school and Kuroko was never really that far from Kagami anyway); but then came the actual “getting to know Kuroko” part, that is, beyond their connection through and to basketball, and well, Kagami found out just how much of a little mischief-making pain in the ass Kuroko really could be (not to mention the deadpan and sarcastic comments that popped out of his mouth ever so often); but honestly, perhaps the worst (and no, seriously this was the absolute worst Kuroko has ever subjected him to) was the fact that he had somehow convinced Kagami to share an apartment with none other him, Aomine Daiki and Kise Ryouta from this year onwards.

 

They were all in their second year of university now, having graduated from high school with surprisingly good enough results to get them to universities of their choice. Of course Kagami and Aomine had barely made the minimum academic requirements in order to receive their sports scholarships. To be honest, even Kagami had been surprised when he had scored high enough; because he remembered very well the days of endless studying and not understanding anything and then studying again and getting whacked over the head when he had begged Coach (then ex-Coach) to teach him in between her own university classes and studying and somehow even then still not understanding much. In short, it had been a disaster, but at least he had come out of it on top (or somewhere near there, no one’s checking).

 

However, what had been more surprising to Kagami was that Kuroko's entire Rainbow Crew had all made it to Tokyo for university. Of course Midorima and Aomine were all already living in Tokyo (not that that guaranteed them places in any of the Tokyo universities), and for Akashi to get into Tokyo University was hardly surprising at all considering his "absolute" great results, but to learn that Murasakibara, the laziest man-child Kagami has ever had he misfortune of meeting, had studied hard only so that he could follow Himuro to Tokyo (where he had already been studying in Hitotsubashi University) and actually manage to achieve that goal had been the biggest surprise of the year. 

 

Apparently in the one year they had been separated, Murasakibara actually lost weight from the lack of constant snacking because he missed Himuro too much and had not known how to cope with that (honestly, Kagami himself had wanted to die from second-hand embarrassment when he heard this), managed to not only come to school without pants _twice_ (because Himuro wasn't there to fix him up in the mornings), but even forgot winter break had ended for three days before Himuro called him to remind him when he heard the news of Murasakibara's absence from his ex-Coach. All of it had ended when Akashi finally told him to stop being a disgrace and study hard enough to get into the same university as Himuro or any in his vicinity and share an apartment with him (apparently even Akashi did not hope to order Murasakibara into becoming an independent being now that he already knew the perks of Himuro’s caring nature).

 

So at the end of the day, they were all studying in various universities in Tokyo. Considering that Kagami’s university was in Setagaya, which took him, at most, an hour by train to get to from his apartment in Shibuya (even with the morning crowd), Kagami had continued to live on his own in that apartment. But for Kuroko, life was not that simple. He had decided to live on campus, sharing a dormitory room with another person in order to experience the "ultimate university life", whatever that meant (because to Kagami, who only ever went to classes and basketball practices and the occasional dinner with his teammates or high-school friends, university life was honestly not all that different from high-school days).

 

But for Kuroko, he wanted to play basketball only recreationally now and have lunches and dinners and study-sessions with his various groups of university friends. He wanted to stop living in anyone's shadow (not that he had minded that in middle or high school, but just – well, university is the epitome of starting over fresh and trying new things). He wanted to not be overlooked anymore because of his lack of presence and general apathy for trying too hard in this aspect. High-school Kuroko had a certain goal he had wanted to attain beyond anything else; he had known himself well-enough and had not needed to feel validated by the acknowledgement of others outside of basketball, and so he had never bothered to purposely make friends or build relationships. But university Kuroko wanted more than that, and so he put in effort into getting to know his various classmates in the different modules he took, and he especially put in effort into befriending his roommate (who he honestly thought could not be any worse than Kagami and Aomine).

 

But as it would happen, apparently there were worse people than Kagami and Aomine. Okay but, to be fair to his roommate, he was technically not worse, just a different sort of idiot. He only ever wanted to party – always trying to drag Kuroko to various alcohol-laden parties where people more often than not got scarily inebriated, his roommate included which meant Kuroko had to drag him back to their room on the days he could not find a girl to get laid with.

 

The thing is though, Kuroko’s strength had not improved much since his high-school days, and it’s sufficed to say his roommate was not as forgiving as Kagami when he got dunked in mud. His roommate quickly figured out that such parties were not for Kuroko and stopped bothering him, not that Kuroko minded it that much. More troublesome was the fact that simply because Kuroko wished it so, the problem of his lack of presence did not resolve itself; so much so that his roommate rarely ever noticed him sleeping in the room when he brought back girls and simply thought he was lucky that Kuroko was simply not there. Kuroko had eventually lost count of how many times he had woken up from noise, left the room and slept on the sofa in the common area in that one year. Hence, having realized on-campus living was definitely not for him, he set out to convince Kagami of the benefits of sharing an apartment.

 

What he had not taken into consideration was Kise’s ever-present, cloying attachment to him and Aomine’s absolute incapacity to not butt into anything that was Kagami-Kuroko related. At some point, he decided that it was easier work convincing Kagami to share an apartment between the four of them than talking the other two idiots out of this forced intrusion into Kuroko’s plan. It did not take much to convince Kagami though. He was, after all, far too kind and caring and used to giving in to Kuroko’s requests, and most importantly, never realizing that Kuroko always had more plans than that that which he revealed to Kagami.

 

Still, it took the most of February to convince him, and they had just about a month of Spring break left to find a relatively cheap flat not only central to but big enough for all four of them, move to that house and settle in properly before spring semester started. In fact, it was rather surprising they managed to even pander to everyone’s wishes as quickly as they had. It only took two and a half weeks of constant house hunting (no, really, Kuroko was not being sarcastic here). It probably helped that by some tacit agreement they all felt that Kagami had the worst end of the deal (all of them were well aware that he would end up feeding them and taking care of them, and not to mention he really did not need to move anywhere) and decided to let him choose an apartment in Setagaya.

 

Kagami loved the new place because it was a fifteen-minute walk to his campus, and the others were fine with it because the station was a six-minutes walk away from the apartment and Setagaya was mostly middle ground for them, with Kise and Kuroko both at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Fucho and Aomine at Takushoku University in Bunkyo. Four bedroom apartments in Tokyo were by no means cheap but they realized with the cut-down on the constant eating out and other on-campus living expenses, the apartment’s rent was fairly manageable. Everything seemed to have gone pretty smoothly.

 

Or so it seemed.

 

Kagami should have realized with the Rainbow Crew nothing would ever go as smoothly. He cursed for the umpteenth time, and it was barely even noon yet. He did not why they had all decided to move in on the same day, but it was now a complete and utter disaster. He also did not know who invited the rest of the colourful bastards to help them move because anyone with two brain cells knocking in their heads should know these guys were either incapable of doing anything adequately outside of basketball or would find such a menial task of carrying boxes far too beneath them to actually do any substantial work.

 

The only ones helping properly were Momoi, Takao and Himuro but that was probably because they were actual, normal people and used to cleaning up after their “Miraculous” counterparts (Kasamatsu was the only one Kagami had willingly invited but he had laughed in his face and told him good luck; he knew better than to turn up to this mess). And who invited Akashi anyway? That guy did not even have a caretaker to deal with all the bullshit he spouted on the regular. He was pretty sure he saw Akashi tell Takao that he was being inefficient when that red-haired demon himself was not even doing anything, except to boss others around. And to be honest, between Kuroko and Momoi and their collective lack of strength, not much of Kuroko’s or Aomine’s stuff were being brought in to the apartment and mostly left outside the apartment at the lift-lobby or on the street downstairs. Kagami was certain the pain in his head was from veins constantly throbbing due to stress and high-blood pressure.

 

At some point though, Himuro realized the futility of this whole endeavor and the extent of the Generation of Miracles’ incompetence in anything normal and decided to do something about it. Moreover, he did not want Kagami to die from a stroke because honestly, he was pretty sure he heard actual veins popping and snapping when Kagami toppled over yet another box of Kise’s clothes (that made the third time this had already happened and it was barely noon). After he saw Kagami walking down the stairs again, grumbling mutinously under his breath, he decided to address everyone else.

 

“Okay, guys, this is getting out of hand,” he said in an uncharacteristically loud voice, hoping to drown out the burgeoning argument about to occur between Midorima and Kise, and to properly gather everyone’s attention. “I don’t know if you guys have noticed but Taiga has a really short temper and to be honest, it is amazing he hasn’t exploded yet. Other than Momoi-san, Takao-kun and Kuroko-kun, none of you are doing anything helpful. At all.”

 

Himuro paused for effect (and also because he was pretty sure his statement would be followed by loud denials). Right on queue, there was an outburst of voices talking over one another. He could hear Takao snickering behind his hand. He waited for them to quiet down, and pondered whether he would have to thank the red-haired demon for quelling all of them with that one look of his (Himuro absolutely did not want to thank _that_ person).

 

“Tatsuya, I don’t suppose you were referring to me as well,” Akashi said mildly. Himuro resisted the urge to sneer at him for using his first name so easily, and instead kept his passive mask in place. “I have been very helpful, directing them where to go and what to do.”

 

Himuro glanced across the area, the inside of the apartment and the lift lobby where they were currently standing at as well, and raised his eyebrow. “Really. Look around you. Does it look anything has gone where it is supposed to and anything has been done? Not to blame you completely,” he ignored Kise’s dramatic gasp and Murasakibara’s frantic stop motion from behind Akashi, “because these guys are just as much as at fault for not being able to follow your instructions and also for being incapable of thinking for themselves when your instructions clearly did not work out.”

 

“Excuse yo – “ Midorima started but he was drowned out by Aomine’s bellow.

 

“You bastard! What the fuck you saying, huh? Maybe if you didn’t keep yourself half-blind, you’d see we got some work done. And it’s not as if you know any better. I don’t see you trying to help.”

 

Himuro wondered for a second if Kagami was safe living with someone who could look so murderous. He sighed, and again resisted the urge to sneer at them all.

 

“I _am_ helping. In fact, almost all of Taiga’s stuff is already in his room because both of us worked _together_ to get them there. While the other three are nowhere near done.”

 

“Tatsuya, I do not wish to fight on such a nice day, and upset Tetsuya or Taiga. Hence, I shall refrain from putting you in your place. In fact, I will be considerate enough to suggest that you guide us since you and Taiga have already worked out a system,” Akashi said with a sense of finality.

 

Himuro really wanted to throttle that kid. He simply could not grasp how Akashi was so arrogant and high-handed. But he had to agree with him that he did not want to upset Kagami any further.

 

“Great!” Himuro replied with fake cheer. “Now, before Taiga comes back, let’s figure out how we’re going to do this. Atsushi and Aomine-kun – “ he studiously ignored Aomine’s “Oi, don’t order me around!” and continued, “You guys are responsible for bringing up all the big stuff – the big boxes and furniture. Kise-kun can help you with the furniture once he has shifted all his boxes of clothes to _his_ room instead of leaving them in front of the main door here.”

 

He leveled a steely stare at the Kise, and gave a satisfied nod when the blond gulped and quickly agreed with him.

 

“Next, Midorima-kun and Akashi-kun, it would be helpful if you guys worked together to bring all of Taiga’s kitchen stuff up because I am afraid the others might not handle them carefully enough and Taiga really loves his cooking things.”

 

“That is acceptable.”

 

“Yes, Shintarou and I will arrange them after bringing them up as well.”

 

“Akashi-kun, actually Kagami-kun would like to do that himself. He is very… _particular_ about what goes where in his kitchen,” Kuroko interjected. Himuro felt relieved knowing that at lease one of Kagami’s new roommates knew him well.

 

“Oh. In that case, I will ask Taiga myself then. I am sure he will not decline my invitation to help.”

 

Himuro gave up on him and decided to focus on the others without any tasks yet.

 

“Okay, that’s fine. Now, let’s see. Takao-kun, you’re with Kuroko-kun, while I’ll help Momoi-san with Aomine’s things, if that’s okay with the three of you?”

 

“No problemo!” Takao exclaimed and threw an arm over Kuroko’s shoulders. He ignored the narrow-eyed look Midorima shot their way and instead started discussing logistics with Kuroko. Over the past few years, the two had somehow become good friends. Okay, that was probably unfair. There was no “somehow” about it, as if it was surprising. It was unsurprising that they did become friends considering their predilection for underhanded pranks and jokes, and high tolerance in dealing with all things Generation of Miracles. And to be completely honest, Takao found Kuroko the easiest to get along with out of all of Midorima’s friends and the two had a fixed monthly lunch date ever since they had gotten into university. So pairing up with him to help with the moving was no big deal at all.

 

Aomine, on the other hand, was still complaining.

 

“Oi, you! You better not look through my stuff. Satsuki! Make sure the creep doesn’t look through my stuff!” Aomine huffed loudly as he was dragged away by Murasakibara, who only started moving after receiving a particularly cold stare from Himuro (he did _not_ want to have to go without Himuro’s home-cooked meals for the rest of the week).

 

“Dai-chan! Rude!” Momoi shouted after him, and turned towards Himuro. “Sorry about this Himuro-kun. Dai-chan always does this, don’t mind it please. And thank you for helping. You organized everything very quickly!”

 

Himuro smiled at the beaming girl and wondered for the umpteenth time how such a nice girl got stuck with Aomine of all people.

 

“Oh, it’s no problem! Come, let’s quickly take the lift down. Even if the tasks are assigned, with Atsushi and – no offence – Aomine around, something may still go wrong. And it’s not like Taiga is any calmer than Aomine-kun. Also, he always manages to provoke Atsushi some way or the other,” Himuro replied with a sigh.

 

Momoi hid her giggle. Now, she knew how Himuro dealt with all of them with such efficiency. It’s because he already had so much practice dealing with Kagami and his outbursts. Kagami was strange in that as much as he had a quick temper and rarely thought before acting rashly, he was also sensitive and sweet. Kagami could fight with you all day long and then turn around and offer to cook you food if you were hungry in the middle of the fight. Himuro had long ago learned to deal with Kagami’s inexplicable behavior and in the process, learnt to deal with most other difficult characters (such as Murasakibara, and his group of talented friends) as well.

 

They met Kagami on the way once the lift doors opened on the first floor. Kagami looked absolutely bewildered.

 

“Hey, do you guys know what it is happening?” Kagami asked. “Murasakibara and Aomine just shoved me aside and took the mattress I was trying to carry up.”

 

He pointed to behind him where they could see Aomine and Murasakibara carrying all four mattresses between them and heading for the stairs.

 

“Ah, well, that’s good, isn’t it?” Himuro said mildly. “It’s a good thing none of you decided to bring your bedframes from your previous places. That would have been a hassle to maneuver.”

 

“Yeah, well. Not like I had a choice. Dad was slightly pissed at the move so I think not letting me take the bedframe is his punishment. Apparently, they are not cheap and I have to finance myself,” Kagami said with a roll of his eyes. They shared a look between them – they were both well aware Kagami’s dad tended to let his son do pretty much anything and the punishment really wasn’t that much of a punishment at all. His father, despite not staying in Japan, took the blow that his son was moving out on his own quite badly. Not only had he complained to Kagami’s mother regarding Kagami’s “rebellious stage” finally hitting him, but to Himuro as well. Well, at least, it had been hilarious to listen to a grown, tough-looking man, who made people cower in their seats during business deals, whine over the phone regarding his one and only son.

 

“All of you are going to be sleeping with the mattress on the floor for a while, huh?” Momoi said. “Well, whatever you do, I suggest you don’t bring Aomine shopping with you because it will turn into a nightmare. Don’t even ask him because he will just complain. He will call me when he realizes how inconvenient the situation is on his own.”

 

“Momoi-san, you really are something else,” Kagami replied with a chuckle. Over the years, he finally stopped being afraid of the girls’ capacities and started to appreciate her genuine intelligence.

 

“Awww, Kagaminnn~!” Momoi squealed, “Have you fallen for me~?”

 

Yeah, but just because Kagami appreciated her now didn’t mean he found her other behaviours any less weird, mortifying or downright terrifying sometimes.

 

“Ha ha, Momoi-san, stop frightening poor Taiga here,” Himuro said with an amuse smile on his face. “Taiga, I think maybe you should head upstairs and just direct everyone regarding where all the communal things go?”

 

“Right…Okay, I’m gonna go do that. Thanks, guys, for helping out!”

 

* * *

 

Eventually the moving was complete. But only after two fights, a noise complaint from the building landlord, accidentally tearing one of Aomine’s porn magazines, and Akashi scaring everyone by helping Kagami to arrange all the knives. But at least, it was done, and it was only 2 in the afternoon.

 

After the collective stomach grumbles that went around the room, it was unanimously decided that they would order take-out – which. Well, it was hardly any surprise when another fight almost broke out then. All of them couldn’t decide on any one place to order from, but Kuroko solved the problem by suggesting pizza. When the delivery boy appeared with their food, it took the poor guy three trips up and down from his motorbike to bring up all twenty boxes of large pizzas (four each for Kagami, Aomine and Murasakibara, and the other eight shared between the rest of them). Kuroko couldn’t tell if the delivery boy was more afraid of all these tall, lumbering men, or the amount of food they had ordered for only ten people. Each of those pizzas was _huge_.

 

Once they were settled in with their food, it was surprisingly quiet. Maybe because everyone was so hungry, all of them were too busy stuffing their mouths with as much pizza as fast as possible.

 

Eventually though, Midorima spoke up. “So, how is this arrangement going to work?”

 

“What do you mean?” Kagami asked, or rather mumbled, spewing food out in front of him.

 

“Kagami-kun, please don’t eat and talk.”

 

Kagami pulled a face at Kuroko and continued stuffing his face with more pizza.

 

“As in,” Midorima replied with a sigh, “Isn’t it far for the three of you? Also, have you guys discussed bills, who buys groceries, who does housework, and all that?”

 

“Ah, don’t mind him, guys,” Takao interjected with a cheeky smile, “Shin-chan is really into this whole equally dividing chores and micro-managing everyone’s lives. He even colour-coded the calendar in our kitchen to indicate various stuff. There’s a lot of pink.”

 

“Shut up, Takao!” Midorima growled amidst everyone’s laughter. “There is no pink at all!”

 

“Ah! But there are other colours, huh?” Aomine said with a smirk.

 

“Nothing wrong with being organized,” Kuroko quipped. “In fact, he is right, maybe we should come up with a tentative plan.”

 

“HUH? What’s there to discuss?” Aomine demanded loudly. “Just whoever buys groceries, pays for them. Whoever is free, clean the house. Big deal!”

 

“Aominecchi~! As if you would ever be “free” to clean the house,” Kise said with mocking gesture of air quoting the word ‘free’. “I agree with Kurokocchi. If it is not decided properly, I feel like you would hardly ever do any work around this place.”

 

“Kise, you bastard! As if you would do anything as well. I’ve been to your room last year. It was filthy, filthier than mine even.”

 

All of them, except Kuroko and Momoi, raised their eyebrows in shock. Kise did not look like the type to be filthy (like Aomine), not with his clean and pressed clothes.

 

“Ahhhh! Don’t listen to him! Kagamicchi, I’m totally not filthy. You don’t have to worry!” At Kagami’s skeptical look, he continued hurriedly, “I’m just…you know. Organized messy. Aominecchi is a liar! He is gross and dirty and never washes his clothes, and leaves food on the floor. I don’t do all that! I just have a lot of things…”

 

Aomine started cursing Kise, while Kagami looked progressively like he was going to hurl as he heard Kise. Kuroko quietly passed him a glass of water before he upended all the contents of his stomach.

 

“Don’t worry, Kagami-kun. That’s why we gave Kise the biggest room. Because none of the other rooms are big enough to contain all his things, and we don’t want them spilling over to the common area. So his mess will be confined to his room. As for Aomine-kun, yes, we probably need to establish some house rules to avoid all that.”

 

“Tets – “

 

“Dai-chan, you know he’s right. So shut up, and listen.”

 

“Tsk.”

 

“Okay, first of all, Ahomine, that is _gross_. Like so gross, I don’t even know where to begin,” Kagami said when he finally stopped looking nauseous. “And secondly, it’s pretty easy to come with a system for this. Just everyone clean their own rooms, unless _someone_ needs an intervention in which case we’ll force _him_ when that happens. Otherwise, communal areas are to be cleaned by everyone on a rotational basis over the weekends. Whoever uses the kitchen, clean the kitchen immediately after. But considering I’ll mostly be using it, I’ll clean it most of the time, so that’s not an issue.”

 

“Okay, that sounds fair enough. Anyone disagree?” Kuroko asked. When Takao joking squeaked “Me! Me!” Kuroko blandly replied, “No comments from the peanut gallery, thanks.”

 

“But what about food? Like Midorimachhi said?”

 

“Well, I suppose we have a joint money pool for that. But Aomine-kun and Kagami-kun pays twice as much as us, because frankly the amount you guys eat is too big a difference to be discounted. But other household expenses, like detergent and other non-food related stuff, we’ll split the cost equally. And, bills, well, that too, we’ll split equally among the four of us.”

 

“Sounds good,” Kagami said, still chewing on pizza.

 

“Oh, but talking about detergent – who’s in charge of laundry?” Kise asked.

 

“Hah? What do you mean? Just do your own damn laundry,” Kagami replied with a scowl.

 

“Uhhhh.” Both Aomine and Kise looked uncomfortable all of a sudden.

 

“Actually, Dai-chan doesn’t know how to do laundry. And probably Ki-chan too. Dai-chan used to bring all his clothes back home once every month to get Auntie to wash them for him.”

 

“Ah ha,” Kise laughed nervously, rubbing the back of neck, “Me too, except I did that once every two weeks.”

 

Midorima simply sighed, while Takao and Murasakibara outright started laughing.

 

“Well,” Akashi said firmly, “You’ll have to learn then. I am sure Taiga and Tetsuya would kick you guys out if you don’t. I would if I were them.”

 

“Ah, no, Akashi, I probably wouldn’t go that far,” Kagami said, “But yeah, you guys should learn.”

 

“Kagami-kun, that is not enough. Both Aomine-kun and Kise-kun would steal your clothes if theirs were dirty, now that there is that option available to them,” Kuroko told Kagami. “I suggest the two of you learn before semester starts. Because after that, I will tell Kagami-kun to not make any food for the two of you if you don’t do your own laundry and steal his.”

 

“Kurokocchiii,” Kise began on a whine but was silenced by the quelling look on Kuroko’s face. Apparently Aomine was immune to the look because he started complaining nonetheless.

 

“Fuck, Tetsu. I thought after years of hearing about Kagami’s wifely charms, I wouldn’t have to bother with all this shit now that we’re living together. But you’re taking all the fun away.”

 

“OI! What does that mean? I’ll show you wifely, you shit,” Kagami bellowed, accidentally spitting a chewed piece of pepperoni on to Aomine’s face. “I – “

 

There was a pregnant pause, where everyone stared at the two of them with wide eyes. It was amazing how spot on the pepperoni was in landing right on Aomine’s nose. Not to mention how genuinely disgusting the chewed up piece of meat looked. Everyone waited with bated breath for Aomine to explode; but before that, Takao and Kise cracked and started howling with laughter.

 

“Kagami, you fucking bastard – “ Aomine shouted, throwing down his pizza and advancing towards Kagami.

 

By this point, everyone was laughing too, including Kagami.

 

“Sorry, Ao – pfft!” Kagami tried to say but ended up laughing. He knew he had to move within the next second if he did not want Aomine to punch him into the floor, but between trying to swallow the rest of his pizza and laughing so hard that he was clutching his stomach, he could barely move an inch.

 

Fortunately, Kuroko had the sense to trip Aomine before he could pounce on Kagami, and the poor guy went sprawling on the floor, inviting another round of laughter. After a few moments, Aomine realized the stupidity of the situation and started laughing as well.

 

That was another thing that had changed over the years. Yes, they were all still competitive and clashed constantly with one another, but somewhere along the way they all realized they couldn’t live without one another in their lives. Somehow, the occasional practice matches and battles during official tournaments, and the casual spontaneous one-on-ones during the three years of their high school had mellowed them out all. University, then, had made them realize making friends so late into their teens was not easy, and more importantly, very few people truly understood the burden of the being part of the Generation of Miracles. Aomine realized this the most, because he no longer had Momoi to follow him around (and who are we kidding, Aomine needed her more than she needed him even if she was the one following him), and he was the only one without a familiar face at his university. Even Kagami had Kasamatsu from Kaijou at Nippon Sports Science University to keep him company during basketball practices. That was the reason really – that he wanted familiarity back in his life – when he heard Kuroko was planning to find an apartment to share with Kagami that he decided to needle his way into that arrangement (and also the fact that, even after four years, their friendship still stung in some ways; except now the jealousy was less towards Kagami and more towards Kuroko for always being Kagami’s priority).

 

Aomine looked at all of them sitting on the floor, strewn across the living room – even Himuro and Takao – and still chuckling in between deep breaths and sighs, and thought, yeah, _this is what I want_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg, it's kinda nerve-wrecking to write and post something after so long? haha, but I hope you guys liked it. And I hope none of them sounded OOC? God, that's usually the worst, especially if it's not on purpose. BUT I WELCOME constructive criticism, so don't hold back please
> 
> I should be done with the second chapter soon, but if I'm not done within the week please give me a virtual kick haha (#^.^#)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they establish new routines and traditions, and everyone bullies Aomine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo, guys!
> 
> So haha totally didn't take me a week. this is the height of procrastination. because I have an essay due tmr and instead of starting on that, i finished this. GO ME.
> 
> also OMG so usually I wait till the entire work is finished before reading chaptered fics, but this fic is soooooo good so you guys should go read it too. it's called [Making Electricity](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4143213/chapters/9345447). It's perfect in its depiction of virgin Aomine (like i know most, including me, in this fandom depict aomine as some sex god, but this fic totally nails it in the case where aomine ISN'T a sex god because he's a virgin). I LOVE IT. The author's writing style is amazing toooooo
> 
> ANYWAY so on to my actual chapter here, HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOY

Before the semester started, there was always a flurry of action. The air seemed charged with some kind of energy, breathing life into all the university-going students who had yet to fall into the jaded mindset of an almost-proper adult. More and more students could be seen on the streets, shopping for new classes, and stocking up on materials; and reconnecting with their friends whom they had barely seen over the holidays. Second year students mostly still retained that excitement of the first year. Meeting up with friends freely like this, and buying books they genuinely would like to study was still a novel experience. And more importantly, they were all studying materials they actually chose for themselves and did reasonably well in, and were engaged in activities they could give more attention to without fear of failing their classes. University, with its free form way of studying (at least for most of them) and choosing their own schedules, was the best thing that had happened to the four of them.

 

For Kise, it was because he still modeled, and was in fact, on his way to becoming one of the biggest names in the industry. With his sight set on Paris Fashion Week, and gaining an international recognition, he needed all the time he could get to tend to his career. And it helped that he decided to pursue French Studies in university, not just because it would boost his chances internationally but also because he had genuinely fallen in love with the culture and the people and the place when he had visited France two years ago. It had been a joint birthday gift from his parents and his modeling agency when they had procured a pass to the Paris Men’s Fashion Week for him. It had been an eye-opening experience – the glittering runways, with cameras flashing constantly, the models with enough glamour to blind a person, the designers with their brilliance – it had all resulted in Kise falling in love. And as if that wasn’t enough, when he had finally gotten around to going sight seeing and walking around the city, Paris had managed to capture his attention and heart all that much more. He had come back to Japan with smiling eyes and a goal he wanted to work hard for.

 

For Kuroko, on the other hand, he had decided to go Japanese studies, because he realized his passion for classic literature and modern texts and all things to do with his own culture and society was something he could make into a career he would love. More importantly, he did not want to be stuck studying something he hated, like Mathematics. And considering that he wanted to work in the publishing industry or with children in equal parts, this seemed to be the best choice.

 

But perhaps the most excited were Kagami and Aomine. Sure, they still had basketball training over the holidays but it was slightly different because after the All Japan Intercollegiate Basketball Championship in December, practice tended to slow down until the new semester started in April. Then, it was a surge of grueling practices till late into the evening, and starting back again early in the morning before going for classes. Anyone could see the thrilled gleam growing in the pair’s eyes as their one-on-one matches in the week leading up to the semester became more and more intense.

 

It was also the fact that, for once in their lives, they were performing well in their academics. Aomine rediscovered his knack for physics and chemstiry and followed his instincts into pursuing engineering. He still flunked whenever he slipped up and studied any less than the minimum requisite; but he had found a perfect balance between studying just enough to get high Bs and playing the maximum amount of basketball as possible. Kagami, though, he had found his calling in Physical Education. Aomine often complained about how he studied so little and made up with his natural flair for the subject so much so that he almost always got low As and high Bs. It was also general enough a course that he had a vareity of careers open to him if he ever stopped playing basketball competitively.

 

All in all, the four felt that they had their lives under their control. Now, with the new living arrangement, the situation had become even better, as it became obvious to them within just days of living together. Kagami liked that he had someone else waking up early who didn’t mind going running in the morning with him. He and Kise established a routine very quickly, and it was nice to have the company. Sure, Kise still got on his nerves sometimes but the guy was at least easy going enough such that there wasn’t any outright conflicts. Kise liked looking at Kagami’s bulging muscles, and the sexy image he painted in the morning light as sweat caused his tanned skin to shine golden.

 

They would come back before either Kuroko or Aomine woke up and Kagami would take a quick shower before starting on breakfast while Kise liked to soak longer in the bathtub. The aroma of breakfast (be it perfectly cooked pancakes or perfectly fried bacon) would eventually wake up the other two. Aomine would stumble out, yawning and scratching his naked stomach before he would plop down on the chair in front of the kitchen counter and start drowsing until Kagami finished cooking. Kagami would always wrinkle at the display and thank the deities that at least Kuroko freshened up before turning up for breakfast.

 

This routine which had been established quickly was happening yet again today. As Kagami waited for the Kise and Kuroko to come out, he decided to poke Aomine in the face with the ladle, smearing pancake batter across his cheek. He snickered when Aomine only grumbled a little before continuing to drool with his cheek resting against the counter. Kagami grinned wider. It wasn’t everyday he was presented with such perfect opportunity to fuck Aomine up. And so, he was still clumsily drawing a mangled dick on his face with the ladle when Kuroko came out of his room.

 

He raised a single eyebrow at Kagami’s antics and quietly set up plates for all four of them without stopping Kagami. Kagami loved it when Kuroko’s mischieveous streak helped him. Having finished drawing on Aomine, he started to quickly plate up the finished pancakes. Kise came out of the toilet, in only a pair of sweatpants and outright laughed at the spectacle that was Aomine’s face.

 

“Wait, let me Snapchat this!” Kise said, while he took out his phone and snapped a few shots, still cackling away.

 

“Bluuh, wha – What? Huh?” Aomine woke up with a start at Kise’s loud laugh. “Whatcha laughin’ a’?” Aomine warbled out, not quite suppressing his yawn. Kise quickly his his phone behind his back, looking absolutely innocent.

 

“Nothing~! You seem more tired today, Aominecchi. Were you up too late, jerking off? You know, your dick will fall off if you do it that much~!” Kise said in a sing-song voice, and just chuckled when Aomine flipped him off.

 

“Shut up, Kise. It’s too early for your sparkles,” Aomine grumbled. “Oi, Bakagami, where’s the food?”

 

Kagami pretended to huff and pointed at the plate piled high with pancakes right in front of Aomine, and quickly turned around in case he burst out laughing at the dick drawing drying on his face.

 

Kuroko too, could barley keep it together, though he was better at it than Kise and Kagami; nevertheless, Aomine noticed their strange behaviour when none of them would meet his eyes while eating breakfast. The conversation was flowing freely, but every now and then, he could see Kagami’s shoulder shaking and Kise letting out a giggle only to suppress it. He could see Kuroko’s eyes shining with amusement.

 

“Okay that’s it! What’s wrong with the three of you today?” Aomine demanded. All three of them suddenly became very busy with eating, and just shook their heads, as if nothing was wrong.

 

“What, is there something on my face or someth – “ Aomine started to ask, only to be interrupted by boisterous laughter that could no longer be contained. “Huh?”

 

As Aomine continued looking confused, the other three doubled over laughing. Kagami banged the counter top, while Kise had tears at the corners of his eyes. Eventually, Aomine got annoyed and went to the toilet to see what had them laughing so hard by looking at his face.

 

However much they had managed to control their laughter only blew apart when they heard Aomine’s screech from the toilet, and such a high-pitched shout could only be classified as a screech.

 

“Who the fuck did this?!” He shouted as he stomped out of the toilet, still scrubbing at the dried pancake-batter dick on his face. Looking at the three of them, Aomine realized each and every one of them were capable of doing this to him. Aomine only narrowed his eyes in a glare and went back to the toilet to properly wash his face.

 

“Oh, Aominecchi!” Kise called after him, laughing into his hand. “Might wanna check your phone~!”

 

* * *

 

 

Two days later, Aomine was still receiving messages with dick jokes and his picture edited to look like various memes. He never found out who the culprit was but he wasn’t speaking to Kise for sending the picture to all his friends and then some.

 

His mood got worse when he came back from a training session with his team to find that even Kagami’s bedframe had arrived. He had been stalling for quite a while, complaining that he could not find one he liked, while Kuroko and Kise had gotten themselves one each pretty early on. Aomine didn’t quite know why it irked him that Kagami had a bedframe now. A part of it was probably that despite the mattress, sleeping on the floor was weird and he wasn’t used to it, and he had been going to sleep later and later as the days progressed. Another part was also probably that he had thought Kagami would invite him to go shopping for bedframes together, because Kise and Kuroko had gone together. But apparently not. With every day that passed and Aomine lived with Kagami, he realized just how independent the guy was. He knew theoretically that that was the case, considering he had been living on his own since high school but it had not quite computed in his head until now.

 

He muttered angrily under his breath when he saw Kagami setting up his bed through the open door to his room. He stalked past it, went to his room and slammed the door shut. He knew he was acting petulant but he just did not give a shit at the moment. He knew that once semester started in a few days, he would not have any time to go shopping; but even now, it was probably too late to ask Momoi to help him because he knew she had gone to the countryside to visit her grandparents and was only coming back on the Sunday night before classes started on Monday.

 

He was roused from his inner ramblings with a knock on his door.

 

“Hey Aomine?” It was Kagami, and he sounded concerned. Aomine only scoffed and did not open the door. “You okay in there? It’s kinda early still, but do you want dinner or something?”

 

As if on queue, Aomine’s stomach growled loudly. It wasn’t quite dinner time yet, but Kagami would whip up something for him if he asked. But his pride was still smarting from the fact that Kagami hadn’t invited Aomine and everything else that had been happening the past few days.

 

“Ugh, go away. So annoying,” Aomine said in a slightly raised voice. Aomine wanted to be left alone but somehow when he heard the footsteps moving away from the door, he felt slightly disappointed anyway. It was stupid, it felt as though he was back in that liminal period between pre-teen and teen and when everything was new and scary. It didn’t make sense. Only that living with someone made you realize all sorts of things about a person you never even knew you wanted to know or thought would be interesting to know.

 

Aomine had a roommate for a while in his first year in university, but the guy had realized very quickly how incompatible they were together and transferred out to another dormitory room. So, really, Aomine had no idea what it felt like to live with another guy, let alone three, who wasn’t his relative in some way or the other. And to be honest, Kuroko and Kise were not the issue because having known them since middle school meant they were practically siblings with the way they knew so much about each other.

 

But with Kagami, it was different.

 

Aomine had only known him way later, way past his early teen stage. He knew him when they were more or less stable in their personality and character. He knew him from the perspective of a rival, and then a reluctant friend because of the number of mutual friends they had, and then as a genuine friend when they had started to regularly play against each other only and got scouted by universities together after their last Inter-High championship match. However despite all that, there always existed some boundaries between them that never even came into question when compared to Kise and Kuroko. And now suddenly, all those boundaries seemed all the more stark because the living arranement forced their disappearance.

 

In the past month, Aomine had suddenly developed a healthy appreciation for Kagami’s well-sculpted body and secretly admitted to himself that he purposely left his bedroom door open when Kagami was bathing only so that he could see him fresh out of the bath with only a towel wrapped around his waist when he walked past Aomine’s room to get to his own room down the corridor. Not just that, but somehow Kagami had gotten better at basketball over the holidays. He never imagined that Kagami could still grow his talent that much, and instead of being jealous, Aomine only grinned wider when playing with him, eyes burning that much brighter. He also found out that Kagami loved indie rock music he liked to listen to while sketching, and that –

 

That had been the biggest surprise of all time. That Kagami sketched and that he was actually quite good. Not that Kagami showed him any of his pieces, claiming he hardly showed anyone, that it was just a hobby, a guilty pleasure. But after finding out that he showed pieces to Kuroko all the time (he was not jealous, no shut up, he was _not_ ), Aomine had snuck into his room when the other three were out and flipped through the sketchbook Kagami was currently using. There were a lot of sketches of people – some he knew, most he didn’t; but Aomine guessed neither did Kagami because they looked like he had drawn them while on the train or in other public spaces.

 

The ones he did know were of either Himuro, Kuroko or Kise. They looked personal, or at least those of Himuro and Kuroko did. Aomine had clicked his tongue in annoyance when he had seen the smile on Himuro’s face that Kagami had chosen to capture. Aomine knew for a fact that, maybe other than Murasakibara, everyone thought Himuro was as frigid as the North Pole and so to see him smile just so at Kagami made him want to punch something. The latest one had been of Kise, dated only a day earlier, and it had been a sketch of Kise tugging on Kuroko’s shirt with a pout on his face while they sat on the sofa in the living room.

 

What had irked Aomine then, and still did was that he was pretty sure Kagami had not sketched a single one of him, and he didn’t get why not. He was obviously better looking than Kuroko and Kise (he was self-aware enough to know he would never beat Himuro in the looks department) but then shouldn’t Kagami have drawn him too? And perhaps it really was the implication of the lack of any skteches of him that irked him – that somehow Kagami didn’t think him as worthy, perhaps not even a good enough a friend Aomine had intitally thought they were.

 

So, all in all, living with Kagami and the others had resulted in Aomine’s mind being all jumbled up and forced him to overthink (and he really hated to even think the bare minimum). And now, here he was rehashing all the same thoughts while feeling disappointed that Kagami had not asked him once more what was wrong.

 

But then he was surprised out of his inner monologues by a sharp knock on his door and the slow turn of the knob. Kagami poked his head in, and glanced over Aomine, as if checking to see if there was anything physically wrong with him. When he saw that there was nothing that obvious, he came in, holding a plate of half a dozen teriyaki burger patties and some toasted burger bread.

 

He sat down on the mattress beside Aomine and said, “Sorry, dude. This was all I could whip up in the short time. And I haven’t had time to go grocery shopping for vegetables or Mayonaise. So, this is probably gonna be a little dry.”

 

When Aomine simply stared at him, not taking the the plate from him, Kagami frowned.

 

“What? Have you eaten already or something?” Kagami asked.

 

“No? I mean, no, I haven’t eaten,” Aomine said, quickly taking the plate from Kagami, lest he kept looking at Aomine with those concerned eyes. It was downright disconcerting. He mumbled, “And uh, thanks.”

 

“No problem!” Kagami, smiling very slightly. He looked over Aomine once as he got busy eating. “So, what’s up? Why are you being weird today? Is it still about the picture?”

 

Aomine looked up mid-chew. “Uh, no, yes. As in, both?” Aomine said somewhat honestly, hoping the honesty would throw Kagami off and he wouldn’t push the topic any futher. But this was Kagami, so obviously such a ploy helped with nothing.

 

“Well, actually, since it’s still bothering you…” Kagami started. Aomine looked up suspiciously at the nervousness in Kagami’s voice. “Maybe I should come clean and say that I did the drawing. Heh.”

 

“Are you fucking serious?” Aomine burst out. “The fuck, Bakagami? I thought it would be Testu or something. Should have known that little shit has been rubbing off on you instead.”

 

“Sorry, hence the apology burgers. Incomplete burgers,” Kagami said with a sheepish scratch of his head.

 

“As if this is enough. You would have fed me anyway. I want something else,” Aomine demanded. “Do you know how many dick jokes I have in my phone right now? Do you know what? Actually, even I don’t, because there are _too many_!”

 

“Right, right, sorry! Really, I didn’t realize Kise’s contact list was that extensive. BUT, I am willing to make it up to you. So what do you want?”

 

Aomine looked at the earnest expression on Kagami’s face and quickly started plotting. “Maybe…Yeah! I definitely want you to help me shop for a bedframe before classes start on Monday.”

 

Kagami looked confused and a little apprehensive, which was weird. “But, uh – wouldn’t you prefer asking Momoi-san?”

 

“Not really, it’s just that usually she knows what I want and I don’t have to look that hard. But she’s away now and won’t be back till Sunday night which is too late.”

 

“But we only have tomorrow and the weekend to look for anything, and it isn’t that easy to find something on such a short notice.”

 

“How long did it take you to find yours?”

 

“One day, _but_ I know my tastes. I don’t know yours and honestly, Momoi-san has already warned me away from this.”

 

Aomine narrowed his eyes. Was this why he had not invited him? He was going to kill Momoi, she interfered in _everything_.

 

“It’s okay, I’m desperate enough that I might actually put in effort to actively look for something suitable,” Aomine replied, slightly cheered up that his circumstance was already looking up. “Anyway, my requirement are pretty simple.”

 

“And what are they?”

 

“Dark coloured and make sure it’s _really_ sturdy,” Aomine drawled in a wicked tone, loving the way Kagami blushed the moment he understood the implication. Aomine had only recently found out such topics tended to fluster Kagami and thus loved teasing him as much as possible.

 

“Ugh, gross, Ahomine,” Kagami replied with a wrinkled nose, heaving himself up to leave.

 

Aomine watched him leave, finally feeling satisfied as he ate the last burger patty. Living with Kagami wasn’t all that bad, after all.

 

* * *

 

 

“Shut up, oh my god. You’re so fucking annoying and disgusting. Absolutely embarrassing, what the fuck is your problem?!”

 

Kuroko and Kise looked up as they heard Kagami’s voice from outside their apartment, getting louder and louder with every word shouted. They looked at each other and sighed, already aware that Aomine must have done something while they were out shopping for his bedframe. They watched quietly as Kagami walked into the living room in a flurry of angry gestures and pissed off body language, while Aomine strutted in behind him in a lazy pace, looking absolutely bored.

 

“What’s wrong?” Kuroko asked a fuming Kagami.

 

“This fucker wouldn’t stop making dirty jokes long enough to even look at a single bedframe. And all the salespeople at the shop now think we’re some kinky gay couple who broke our previous bed from all sorts of vigorous sex,” Kagami yelled, panting. He glared in an absolutely terrifing manner when Kise let out an unwilling giggle, unable to stop it from leaving his lips.

 

“See! Kise finds it amusing! Anyone would!” Aomine drawls, gesturing towards Kise. “Who cares what they think? We’re hardly ever going back there again.”

 

“Have you forgotten that you still haven’t found a bedframe? We probably do need to go back there, or go to another town to find an equally big shop.”

 

“Ah, actualy, ha ha. I already found and ordered a bedframe,” Aomine said, looking highly amused with himself.

 

“Huh?”

 

“What, Bakagami? It isn’t that difficult to understand. I saw one I wanted pretty early on, so I bought it. All this time, I was just dicking around with you. It was fun.”

 

Aomine grinned and sauntered away towards his bedroom, leaving a speechless Kagami behind. Kagami looked at Kuroko and Kise with wild eyes, and stood there shaking.

 

“I’m going to kill him. I’m actually going to kill that shithead,” Kagami said angrily, enunciating each and every one of his words clearly.

 

Kuroko sighed for – actually, he didn’t even know the number anymore. He wondered why Aomine always picked on Kagami, or well, picked on Kagami the _most_. He certainly understood that their rivalry was based a lot on egging each other on with insults and challenges, but out of court, and lately especially, all the teasing bordered on dangerous. Aomine liked to act holier-than-thou with everyone, that much has been true since their third year in middle school, but outside of basketball, he couldn’t be bothered enough with anyone to even talk to them, much less tease them like this. And his teasing and mocking Kagami would get all that much worse whenever Kagami was busy with someone or something else. It was almost as if Aomine wanted to hog all his attention.

 

Kuroko paused. _Oh_.

 

Suddenly everything made sense, and Kuroko wanted to smile, but at the same time, realized he needed to tell Aomine he was no longer in elementary school and the metaphorical pigtail-pulling was _not_ the right way to achieve anything at their age.

 

Knowing what he had to do, he left Kise to calm Kagami down while he went to knock on Aomne’s door. Kuroko’s suspicions only got confirmed when he saw Aomine’s face fall slightly when he saw that it was Kuroko outside his door and not a certain someone.

 

“May I come in? You may want to close the door,” Kuroko said mildly and ignored Aomine’s narrowed, suspicious eyes as he stepped inside.

 

Aomine did not say anything and only continued to rummage around with his things. There were still some boxes lying around but at least he had shifted all his clothes into the wardrobe.

 

“So, Aomine-kun. Would you like to tell me what all that was about?”

 

“Whaddya mean? What was what about?”

 

“That whole pushing Kagami-kun so far. You’ve been doing it more and more.”

 

“Punishment for drawing a dick on my face with pancake batter,” Aomine grunted, still not looking at Kuroko.

 

“Not really. This has been going on ever since we moved in, but I will admit today’s took the cake.”

 

“Don’t know what you’re talking about, Tetsu. It’s the usual.”

 

“Right,” Kuroko replied. “You do know that you don’t have to force Kagami’s attention on you like that, right?”

 

At that, Aomine looked up with surprise clear in his expression. Kuroko faltered slightly when Aomine said, “Seriously, what are talking about? Today migth have been slightly more than usual, but I don’t know what’s that got to do with Kagami’s attention…? Huh? What does that even mean?”

 

Kuroko stared at Aomine silently, sizing up the situation. Apparently, Aomine himself had not realized, and Kuroko almost sighed at the clichéd setting of the situation. But then again, considering this was Aomine, the basketball idiot, it was hardly surprising at all.

 

“Nevermind, you’ll realize soon enough,” Kuroko replied. “I suggest you apologize to Kagami-kun or there probably won’t be any breakfast for you tomorrow. And Sundays are waffles day.”

 

With that, Kuroko opened the door and walked out into the living area where only Kise was sitting. Kise looked up as Kuroko sat down again on the sofa.

 

“Kagamicchi went to take a bath. Told him that would probably relax him,” Kise said with a small smile. Kuroko nodded his head before going back to the book he was reading before he had been interrupted.

 

It was later that night, much later, nearly 2 in the morning, when Aomine knocked on Kagami’s door. After hearing a mumbled something, Aomine took the chance and went in. He saw Kagami burrowed under the covers in a burrito and almost laughed out loud.

 

“So, uh, sorry about today. Maybe I went too far with my jokes,” Aomine said into the silence. He couldn’t tell if Kagami was even awake or not, what with the lights off and his face half covered. After a few beats of awkward silence, Aomine sighed and turned to leave.

 

“It’s okay.” Kagami’s voice stopped him, and he looked back at him. “It was actually quite funny after I calmed down and thought about it.”

 

Aomine saw a flash of white teeth, and felt his own smirk stretching across his lips.

 

“Of course,” he replied in smug tone, “My jokes are always hilarious. You should know that, Bakagami.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Hilarious. Get outta here,” Kagami said, but there wasn’t any heat in his words.

 

And just as Aomine was closing the door behind him, he heard Kagami softly say, “Aho.”

 

It sounded awfully like an endearment, rather than an insult.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so that is it for now
> 
> I know these first few chapters are wordy but I'm like still trying to establish the scene and everything. 
> 
> anyway, HAHA I NEED TO GO DO MY ESSAY NOW.  
> WISH ME LUCK PLS


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Kagami and Aomine have a basketball showdown, and Kise and Kagami bond
> 
> (I realise my summaries are starting to suck exponentially)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello guys, :DDDD
> 
> So yup, hopefully I can get into the romance and angst proper from next chapter onwards? let's see how it goes.
> 
> anyway enjoyyyyy!

The start of the Spring Semester saw Aomine the busiest of them all. Not to say that Kagami, Kuroko and Kise weren’t busy, because, really, they were so busy. But somehow, it seemed Aomine barely ever came back home, and when he did, it would be far too late at night, when he would just blearily take a shower and fall into a sleep so deep he might as well be dead to the world.

 

Apparently, second-year engineering course work and load were nothing to sneeze at and Aomine had to recalibrate his entire studying style to accommodate the new changes while keeping up with basketball training. Kagami took to making him several boxes of bentos to last him throughout the day. Sometimes Aomine did not even have time for breakfast and however much the prick annoyed him sometimes, no one should have to go without breakfast.

 

And as the days passed in a blur, Kagami too became busier, but still not as much as Aomine. However, despite the feeling that he barely had time to breathe sometimes, there was this restlessness growing in him with every passing day. It made his skin itch, and his palms sweat. He would often find himself absently walking towards the street court round the corner of their apartment building before remembering that Aomine was too busy to play with him. He had gotten too used to having Aomine around to play whenever during the holidays that now the sudden cold turkey stop was unnerving.

 

It took him a whole week before he realized he could simply ask Kise to play with him, and so he did. Kagami soon found out though, that it simply was not the same. Sure, Kise would never suck at basketball with his natural atheleticism and his affinity for basketball – in fact, Kagami was downright amazed how well Kise could still play considering he stopped playing competitively since high school had ended. But it still was not the same – Kise did not push him higher, and farther like Aomine did. It was fun, but not as fun as it could be. Kagami did not feel the invigorating pounding of his heart echoing in his chest, or feel the pulse in his eardrums, almost blocking out every other sound except the opponent and the ball. He felt none of that with Kise, and well, it was a disappointment even when Kagami knew not to be disappointed.

 

After the fourth time, after they played till both were dripping with sweat and lying down on the ground, huffing, Kise turned towards Kagami with serious eyes. It was a quiet Thursday night, almost 11 p.m. and when Kise spoke into the oppressive silence in an unusually frank manner, Kagami’s heart skipped a beat.

 

“You always looks very disappointed after every single one of our matches.”

 

Kagami did not know how to reply to that, so he didn’t. Instead he waited for Kise to continue because obviously Kise would doggedly pursue the topic.

 

“It’s okay to feel frustrated that I’m not Aominecchi. I know you’re at his level now, Kagamicchi, and obviously I’m nowhere near either of you anymore. Fuck, that’s depressing to say out loud,” Kise said with a self-deprecating laugh. Kagami turned his head away from Kise and looked up at the sky, where the stars were blurred out from all the light pollution of the city.

 

“I can’t tell if you know all this or not though, with the way you’re resolutely making me play with you instead of talking to Aominecchi,” Kise added.

 

“Yeah, I know. But. I _can’t_ talk to Aomine about it, and that’s why I’m bothering you. Sorry, by the way. It’s kinda shitty, I know,” Kagami said, hoping his apology sounded sincere despite the awkwardness of its delivery. “You’ve seen how busy Aomine is. He hardly has time to sleep, let alone talk to me or anyone, and most definitely not to play a one-on-one that wouldn’t benefit him at this point. It’s not like he doesn’t have his own uni basketball practices.”

 

“Ah, but Kagamicchi, that’s where you’re wrong, aren’t you?” Kise teased in a lilting tone. Kagami scowled at him and was playfully ignored. “I think, more than anything now, Aominecchi needs to play with you again, before he forgets why likes university life at all.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well, I remember last year, when Aominecchi came over to my place a lot. It was during the beginning of the school year and before he got back into playing with you again. He couldn’t figure out why he chose engineering when it was so difficult to juggle alongside his basketball commitments. Not to mention the pressure of the scholarhsip.”

 

“Right…and? He clearly got over it, though. I mean, just a few months ago, Aomine could not stop boasting about his fantastic results, and shoving his smug face in front of everyone,” Kagami replied with a laugh, remembering how annoyed Kuroko had gotten at Aomine’s antics. Kise laughed too, probably remembering the same thing.

 

“Yeah, but he only really started getting his academic on track after you guys met up at that one gathering and planned a one-on-one soon after. Which party was it…mmm.”

 

“The one for Midorima’s birthday that Takao threw without his permission.”

 

“Yes! That one, ha ha, that was a disaster. Right, so yeah, sure you guys still had contact with each other and all, but it was only after that party, that you guys started meeting up often for your little games, and suddenly it was like Aomine did not feel the pressure of the scholarship. He started doing just as well, if not better in his official basketball practices and matches, and most importantly, he could suddenly concentrate on his studies so much better,” Kise said.

 

Kagami was not even looking at him, but he could hear the smile in his voice and wondered for the hundredth time how this group of people had become this intertwined and codependent on each other. It was in equal parts sweet and absolutely fucking creepy. Kagami liked to deny the fact that he was just as immersed in that group now.

 

“So, what’s your point?” Kagami asked.

 

“Wow, Kagamicchi. Have you always been this dense? What am I asking? Of course you have been. Only a basketball idiot like you can understand another basketball idiot like Aominecchi. But that means more work for people like us who surround you guys,” Kise said with a mock sigh, and giggled when Kagami lightly punched him on the arm. “The point is that, Aominecchi now is exactly like he was before he reconnected with you properly, and you need to help him feel less stressed again.”

 

“Why me? Why not you? You do know exactly what is happening apparently,” Kagami said, despite knowing fully well that should Kise help Aomine, he would be inexplicably annoyed.

 

“Ugh, Kagamicchi. Didn’t you hear anything I said? If I could help, you wouldn’t have needed to back then last year. So obtuse, my god,” Kise huffed. “So, will you do it?”

 

“Yeah probably,” Kagami replied after a several seconds passed.

 

“See! I knew you liked Aominecchi despite all the harsh words,” Kise squealed at him, trying to wiggle closer without actually moving.

 

“Fuck off, Kise,” Kagami replied blandly. “I am doing it so that I can get back to playing properly.”

 

“Right…By the way, what do you think about ‘Taigacchi’?” Kise studiously ignored Kagami’s indignant shout and continued saying, “I feel like such a deep conversation as today’s warrants a change in nickname. Don’t you think so, _Tai-ga-cchi_?”

 

“Ew, Kise, fuck off. Seriously.”

 

Kise only laughed and roughly patted Kagami’s face just to annoy him further.

 

* * *

 

 

A whole month passed before Kagami felt that enough was enough and decided to intervene. By this point, Aomine had actual dark shadows under his eyes, and Kagami’s not completely sure but Aomine looked like he had lost weight. It was bordering on dangerously unhealthy.

 

But the thing was, Kagami did not actually know how to help, except to maybe physically drag Aomine to the court and goad him into playing a one-on-one with him. Sure, Kise had said that alone would help, but Kagami was not so certain. If Aomine was having trouble coping with his academics, a match (a forced one at that) would hardly help right now. Kagami did not even what Aomine’s schedule was like; he did not if he had some continual assessment type of exams going on and maybe that was why Aomine was almost always at the library these days (and _holy crap, never thought I would have to ever contend with a library-going Aomine_ , Kagami thought). And as far as Kagami knew, he was pretty sure Aomine absolutely hated receiving help from people, especially if it was consciously offered. Considering his pride was similar to that of Kagami’s, it was hardly any surprise at all. It had really chafed at his ego back then when he had to ask Coach for help with his studies.

 

And the other issue was that even if Kagami wanted to intervene, Aomine never came home before 1 am these days. And when he did, he would eat the food Kagami had laid out for him hours ago without heating it up because he was simply that tired; and by then, even Kagami lost the will to pick a fight with Aomine. Even today, the clock kept ticking closer and closer to 11.30 p.m., and Aomine was, as usual, not back yet. Kagami felt the only way to catch Aomine would be to meet up with him at his university’s gym. He knew Aomine had taken to practising there after library hours ended because apparently his performance on court was steadily becoming sub-par (Kagami only knew this because Kuroko had found this out from his classmate whose boyfriend was on the Takushoku basketball team).

 

Perhaps that’s what annoyed Kagami the most, really. Not that Aomine was letting everything fall apart, but that he was letting _basketball_ slip away from him. They weren’t in high school anymore where even without practising much Aomine was a hundred times better than everyone else. They were in university now, where there were players much better than them (okay, no, they were slightly better than them and only because they had those extra years of experience) and where Japan’s National Team regularly sent scouts to look for potential players to join them in the future. And more importantly, now that Kagami had long since caught up with Aomine in terms of skills, Aomine underperforming meant that Kagami would be left with no partner to spar against. That was not only unacceptable, but also so unfathomable in too many ways to count.

 

And so, Kagami realized the only thing left to do was to go sniff out Aomine in his university’s gym and give him a proper smack-down until he came to his senses. Armed with a basketball and a box full of ham and cheese sandwiches, Kagami took the train to Aomine’s university. He found him quickly enough, because even though the university had so many gymnasiums, there was only one with all the lights on and where the rhythmic sound of ball smacking on the floor was coming from.

 

Kagami stood at the entrance, watching Aomine play by himself. With his back to Kagami, Aomine didn’t notice him at all and tried making his usual horizontal formless shot. The shot missed the hoop so spectacularly that Kagami’s eyes widened in shock and he let out the breath he was unconsciously holding. He saw Aomine flinch slightly and felt the suppressed annoyance bubbling underneath his skin boil over into a loud yell at Aomine.

 

“The fuck was that?!” Kagami asked incredulously. That signature shot which Kagami had seen Aomine execute perfectly blindfolded before with his own eyes was an absolute disgrace. At Kagami’s loud voice echoing across the gym, Aomine started a little before spinning around and seeing Kagami standing there looking at him with an intensely pissed off expression.

 

“Kagami? What the hell are you doing here?” Aomine asked, jogging towards him.

 

“I heard you were playing shit these days so I came to see,” Kagami replied, “But I didn’t realize you had become _this_ shit.”

 

Immediately Aomine’s expression turned furious.

 

“Shut the fuck up, Bakagami!” Aomine said, voice rising with every syllable. “Don’t be so fucking cocky. I could still beat you one-on-one, you loser.”

 

“Huh? Who the fuck do you think you’re kidding?” Kagami demanded indignantly. “Your movements are stiff and you can’t even execute a play you could when you were in fucking high school.”

 

Kagami didn’t know what he expected when he had spewed out those harsh words, but he knew for sure that it wasn’t the sudden closed-off expression he was now seeing on Aomine’s face. It was like he had completely shut down in front of Kagami, unwilling to let him see even a single emotion, and that was more telling than any other action could have been.

 

It became even more disconcerting when Aomine simply sighed, rubbing a hand across his face in a way that belied the countless times he had probably done so recently, and said quietly, “Shut up, Kagami. Go home. I can’t deal with you tonight.” Aomine turned away from him with slightly drooping shoulders and nothing had ever looked so incongruent to Kagami before.

 

In a flash of momentary clarity, Kagami understood he should have heeded Kise’s advice a lot earlier.

 

“Oi, Ahomine,” Kagami called out. When Aomine turned around to look at him, he waved the box at him and said, “I’ve got sandwiches. Take a breather and come eat. You look like you’re about to faceplant directly on to the floor.”

 

Without waiting to see if Aomine was complying or not, Kagami sat down and opened the box, revealing the perfectly made sandwiches inside. He knew for a fact that Aomine loved the simple ham and cheese sandwich and hence, this. Kagami didn’t say anything when Aomine gruffly sat down and started wolfing down the sandwiches.

 

It was strange to be honest. Kagami wondered when exactly had the pair of them gone from being physically incapable talking to each without hurling insults to this – this kind of peaceful, kind of sullen type of silence that didn’t quite invite small talk but nevertheless seemed to welcome actual conversation. Maybe it was the late hour, or maybe it was their maturity from growing up a bit, but just then Kagami felt no inclination to poke and prod at Aomine, and he knew that if Aomine spoke right now he would only be telling something truthful and possibly vulnerable.

 

“Did Kuroko set you up to this?” Aomine eventually asked, having finished all the sandwiches.

 

“Nope. Kise actually.”

 

“Huh? What do you know, the baby grew up,” Aomine said with a light chuckle. It sounded hollow to Kagami’s ears. “You know, it’s fine. More or less. I’m not ditching practice. In fact, I’m training harder to make up for the shitshow I’m putting up.”

 

“But that just makes the situation worse, doesn’t it?” Kagami inquired softly. “Because now you don’t even have the excuse of not practising anymore…You should just – ”

 

Kagami cut himself off. He didn’t quite know what he wanted to say, or how to even convey it.

 

“Just what?”

 

Kagami turned to look at Aomine properly, and it felt like it had been ages since he had really looked Aomine in the eyes. Kagami didn’t know when that – looking Aomine directly in the eyes – had even become the norm. He couldn’t remember the exact turning point, but now that he looked into those dark blue eyes again, he realized how dull they had become. It wasn’t like he had gone back to those days before he had first lost to Seirin, but they weren’t as bright as Kagami had become used to in the past year or so either. It brought an inexplicable ache to his chest, and made him want to beat something up.

 

“Just, well. I came here to force you into playing with me, because as much as I hate to admit it, Kuroko’s right. I am a basketball idiot who doesn’t know how to deal with shit like this without basketball,” Kagami said, scoffing lightly at himself. It made Aomine smirk a bit. “But, seeing what I just did, I don’t even know if basketball will help right now. Like I don’t actually know what’s wrong with you, so.”

 

Aomine stared at him with an unreadable look in his eyes. The pregnant pause stretched to an uncomfortable silence, until he huffed and laid down on the gym floor. The heavy sound of his body hitting the ground seemed out of place, but it alleviated the tension of the moment slightly. Aomine starfished his limbs out and took a deep breath. And then another.

 

“Back when I didn’t care about grades and school work, life had been so fucking easy,” Aomine said. “I feel like the more I care about grades now, here, the more difficult it becomes to maintain anything. I can’t remember the last time I was this stressed. Even last year was not this bad.”

 

“Kise told me a bit about last year,” Kagami finally said when Aomine didn’t elaborate any further. “But, he seems to think. He seems to think that us meeting up again and playing ball made you cope better.”

 

“Is that why you brought the basketball here today?” Aomine asked, laughing lightly. “It’s okay. I probably would have done the same thing. Even now, you trying to console me is giving me the creeps.”

 

Aomine grinned at Kagami just then, and Kagami grinned back even while kicking at Aomine’s shin for the backhanded insult.

 

“Shut up, Ahomine.”

 

“Well, it’s not like I know anyone who can help me with engineering stuff. None of our friends are taking it. Or acquaintances. Just gotta ride it out, I suppose.”

 

“Why did you even decide on _engineering_? You can’t possibly actually be smart.”

 

“Oi, asshole, shut up. I am plenty smart, please. Not like you,” Aomine huffed. “I am pretty good at Chemistry and Physics, you know? Ha ha, you can even say I’m a veritable scientist.”

 

Kagami tried, he honestly did, because this was probably Aomine’s way of psyching himself up, but. But he simply couldn’t hold in the cackle of laughter that escaped him. He barely felt Aomine’s punch to his thigh as he laughed louder than he had in a while.

 

“Yeah, scientist, totally,” Kagami said, still chortling. “Stop being delusional and get you shit under control, dude. If not I’m gonna leave you behind in the dust and become a star basketball player.”

 

Aomine immediately sat up and said, “As if! If I suck, which fuck off I don’t, you will stagnate too. Because admit it, without me you wouldn’t have improved as much as you have. Leave me in the dust, hah! I’d like to see you try.”

 

“Oh yeah? Fine. Day after tomorrow is Sunday right, so right after breakfast we’re gonna have a one-on-one and I’ll show you just how much better I am.”

 

“Bring it on. What’s more, if you win, I’ll even let you have a prize,” Aomine added in a condescending tone.

 

“It’s okay, I don’t need a prize. Because I am so kind, if I win, I’ll teach and help _you_ improve. After all, you need all the help you can get,” Kagami said, a truly evil smile gracing his lips.

 

“Yeah, yeah. In your dreams. And when I win, there’s no if about it, you’re gonna call me Aomine- _sama_ for the rest of your life.”

 

Kagami laughed and vowed to die out of exhaustion before he let that happen. As if Kagami was _ever_ going to let that one happen. Something worse than a smug Aomine was a smug Aomine who got anyone to admit he was awesome.

 

 

In a way, Kagami shouldn’t have been surprised it turned out like this in the end. Considering the way the entire group of them were so incredibly interconnected and massive gossips, the news was bound to get out into the open. It started with Kise, as such things usually did – he probably told all his ex-teammates (middle school _and_ high school), who went on to tell their own teammates from high-school and contacts they had made with players from other schools (especially the Hyuuga-Kasamtasu-Imaoyshi trio: they had bonded over their respective trouble-making juniors and the burden of captaincy). And now it stood that nearly all the players Kagami and Aomine had played at one point or another throughout their basketball career who currently lived in Tokyo were crowded around the basketball court the pair was supposed to play at. Kagami even spied some people he was pretty sure were not basketball players, but just came along for the ride, or were aware of their infamous rivalry and were long-time fans.

 

It wasn’t a big deal, really –

 

Except it really, _really_ , was when they were all breaking up into two big groups (Team Aomine versus Team Kagami), loudly smack talking one another and disturbing the entire neighbourhood, and yup, Kagami just saw Imayoshi mediating (more like instigating) a round of bets.

 

Kagami sighed and looked at Aomine whose expression looked more alive than it had for the entire past month put together. Kagami couldn’t help but a smile a bit too, because he knew what that feral smile of Aomine’s face meant. It was do or die right here.

 

“Bakagami, this is the best,” Aomine drawled loudly, catching everyone’s attention. “I can’t wait for you to call me Aomine-sama in front of this whole crowd after I kick your loser ass with this game.”

 

Immediately, the crowd roared. Kagami flinched when he heard his ex-Coach and ex-Captain shouting at him.

 

“Kagami, you better beat that little Touou shit,” Hyuuga shouted, while Riko hollered, “Yeah, yeah or you’re getting it from me, Bakagami.”

 

It just got more embarrassing when his “team” started cheering and agreeing with the pair of them, all the while flinging insults at the other team. Kagami could feel his cheeks heating up from the all the unwanted attention. He had justed wanted to play a normal one-on-one with Aomine, not this pseudo-revenge match.

 

“Now, now,” Imayoshi began, and _god_ , Kagami absolutely could not stand that slimy voice and the smile that gave him goosebumps. He had often wondered if the guy had always been like that, or was it a byproduct of having to deal with Aomine for that one year (apparently one year too many) (but rumour had it that the guy had always been a twisted fuck, so).

 

“We all know Aomine’s gonna win,” Imayoshi continued, “After all he’s the strongest. I’ll be sure to buy _you_ guys some tissue with all my winnings from today.”

 

In a truly cliched and predictable manner worthy of any B rated American rom-com, Aomine’s side of the court cheered (and jeered), the loudest of them being Murasakibara. Kagami had a feeling the only reason he was getting in on the jeering action was because Himuro was siding with Kagami and Kiyoshi kept smiling smugly at Murasakibara to rile him up. It was a wonder anyone ever thought of this entire group as adults because really, the moment basketball was mentioned, they all devolved into the mentality of ten-year-olds.

 

“Kagami-kun,” Kuroko said, suddenly appearing and startling him, “Before you ask, I’ve literally been here all the time. But anyway, I think you should put in a little bit more effort today.”

 

“HAH? I always put in all the effort. But hearing you tell me to do so pisses me off,” Kagami said, glaring at his friend.

 

“Calm down, Kagami-kun. But if you lose me the 2000 yen I bet on this game, you can rest assured that I will make your life miserable,” Kuroko intoned, face absolutely expressionless.

 

Kagami sincerely hoped Kuroko was joking because that guy was a sneaky little shit when he wanted to be and it was truly horrendous being at the receiving end of his pranks.

 

Aomine, having overheard their conversation, said snidely, “Well then, Tetsu, be prepared to lose all the money. Who in their right mind would bet on this moron?” He pointed to Kagami with a sneer, knowing it would immediately piss him off.

 

“Don’t be stupid, Aomine-kun. I bet on you too, so the previous threat applies to you as well,” Kuroko said with a mild expression, and walked away, leaving his two friends behind, looking dumbfounded.

 

“Tetsu, you little – “

 

“Let’s just start,” Kagami interrupted, “The more we wait, the more this crowd is gonna get involved.”

 

* * *

 

Aomine wondered why he always felt surprised whenever he played Kagami. It didn’t matter if it was an official match or just a one-on-one, Kagami never failed to excite him. The unwavering determination he embodied, the absolute refusal to ever give up even when the match was over – all of it, _all of Kagami_ and his basketball made Aomine grin wider and wider with every match they played together.

 

The match had been going on for 15 minutes now, and they were not following the 4 quarters system, but neither of the players felt tired. In fact, Aomine felt exhilarated and he could tell Kagami was feeling the same. It was a continuous contest over who had the ball long enough to score – could Aomine use his speed to pull away from Kagami, could Kagami jump out of Aomine’s reach; because after so many years, after so many games against each other they could read each others’ mind all that much better.

 

They had both improved so much over the years that even without going into the Zone, the game became thrilling for them and enthralled whoever their audience was. Aomine would duck under and behind Kagami and jump to shoot the ball but Kagami would jump that much further to block the ball. Kagami would steal the ball and zip to the other side of the court only to have Aomine steal it back with a sharp jab and twist of his body.

 

And not to mention the taunts they flung at each other constantly.

 

“Oi, Bakagami! You’re so slow even a kid could bypass you at this point,” Aomine shouted as he easily executed a steal and hurled the ball towards the hoop in formless manner.

 

He didn’t even need to bother checking whether it went in – he could feel the accuracy of his plays today. The feeling, that connection to basketball, that had been missing and steadily worsening over the past few weeks, it was fast reappearing. He could feel the thrum of energy pulsating under his skin and it made him all that much more euphoric for having gained back control over his body and skills.

 

He wondered why this always happened, and why it was always Kagami. Ever since he joined the university basketball team and fought against players who undoubtedly had better skills than he did, he would more often than not feel excited to do better, sometimes he would feel frustrated when he simply didn’t have enough experience to overcome the senior players; but never did he feel this sort of absolute joy that he did when he played against Kagami.

 

He remembered very well the first time they had a match after a whole year. In between studying for exams, Kagami going back to the States for holidays before starting their first year in university, and then getting caught up with the hectic university life, it had taken them over a year to finally have a match again.

 

And Aomine remembered that – how they had met by chance at Midorima's birthday party, how happy he had been on the inside to see Kagami again (not realizing that he had actually missed him until he saw him again), and how glad he had been when Kagami had lit up at the prospect of playing a one-on-one with him the coming weekend. And then the actual one-on-one had been exactly what Aomine had needed at that time to come out of the rut he had been facing with academics and basketball (much like how was feeling now).

 

Despite the challenges Kagami always issued, and their desire to win over the other, and the threat all that posed for Aomine, Kagami's unbidden love for basketball was something that made this sport the absolute best for Aomine. Back in high school, it hadn't been someone better than him that Aomine had needed but rather the existence of someone who loved the game more than him, enough to not give up in the face of Aomine's overwhelming talent.

 

And really, Kagami never disappointed.

 

Aomine supposed he had Kuroko to thank for that. For bringing Kagami into his life. Not that he was ever going to thank Kuroko or tell anyone of his feelings on the matter.

 

And as they both began to pant now, sweating profusely and feeling the ache in their legs, they knew the game was nearing the end.

 

Aomine could hear the two teams cheering on each of them, could hear them shout out tips and encouragement; he heard a few insults here and there too but those were mostly Hyuuga screaming at Imayoshi. He could hear Kise whining loudly about how he never got to play at these impromptu games and how that was unfair and he could hear Kasamatsu telling him to shut up and not disturb him.

 

To put it simply, it was just plain fun.

 

To know that he had come so far that he genuinely liked these people these days. And to top it all of Kagami had pulled it together for him when he had been at the lowest point of his life and he continued to do so time and time again.

 

However, that didn't mean he was going to let Kagami win, because basketball wasn't fun if he lost. And right now, they both had equal scores; Aomine just needed one more shot to win before they both collapsed from the sheer exhaustion of playing continuously without any breaks for nearly 25 minutes now. But as it would happen, just as Aomine jumped from the free throw line to throw the ball towards the hoop, somehow Kagami was suddenly beside him in the air, hand shooting out and slapping the ball away from Aomine's palms.

 

Both their momentums had them falling to the ground when Kagami crashed into Aomine's side. They landed with Kagami smack on top of him. Aomine quite literally felt the breath leave his body with Kagami's weight on top of him.

 

He barely just managed to shove Kagami off before dragging in a deep breath.

 

"Fuck, you moron. That was painful!" Aomine glared at Kagami, clutching his side where Kagami's elbow had jabbed him.

 

"Sorry, man," Kagami said, huffing as well, "Got too excited at the last moment."

 

Aomine let out a short burst of laughter at that, and stared up at the clear sky above them while lying beside Kagami.

 

"That was a good game, Bakagami."

 

"Of course it was, Ahomine. It's me after all," Kagami replied in a mocking tone highly reminiscent of the way high-school Aomine used to talk.

 

They heard footsteps nearing them. Kuroko and Momoi's heads appeared over them and Momoi asked, "Are you two okay? Someone break a bone or two?"

 

"Did I hear someone say ‘broken bones’?" Takao suddenly shouted, running over to them. "Don't worry, I offer Shin-chan up to treat you guys. He might as well start practicing now."

 

"Shut up, Takao. And you're studying medicine too," Midorima's voice came from somewhere behind them that Aomine couldn't see.

 

"It's okay Takao-kun, there are no broken bones," Kuroko said, "And even if there were I'm sure these two would rather suffer the pain than let Midorima-kun help them."

 

Aomine suppressed a smile at Midorima's indignant squawk and Kagami's booming laughter.

 

"Well then, Kagami-kun and Aomine-kun," Kuroko said, "How long are you going to lie there? We should start moving."

 

"What about your winnings?" Kagami asked.

 

"Oh that, well it will take some time before Imayoshi-senpai collates everything and distributes the money. So I invited all of them over."

 

"HAH?!" Kagami sat up, shouting, "Who's coming? The whole group of them? There's not enough space in our apartment!"

 

"No, I'm pretty sure there is. And also, that's why we should go. I think everyone is hungry and wants food," Kuroko said with a completely serious face, while holding out a hand to Kagami.

 

As Kagami stood up with Kuroko's help (actually, there wasn't much help there); looking annoyed, he asked Kuroko, "Let me guess, I have to cook?"

 

Momoi piped up from where she was trying to drag Aomine up but to no avail, "Well, Kagamin, I can always help and cook."

 

Aomine immediately started feeling nauseous at the thought of having to eat Momoi's food. He quickly stood up and dragged Kagami away.

 

"Oi, Kagami. If Satsuki cooks we'll die before we can have our rematch. Just cook for us okay? Before we all get food poisoning."

 

Kagami sighed, and grumbled under his breath before looking for Himuro. Aomine felt a twinge of annoyance when he saw that Kagami didn't even have to say anything, as though speaking telepathically to the guy and Himuro nodded as if understanding the situation perfectly and agreeing to help Kagami. He didn't know why Kagami always complained that they, his Teiko teammates, were codependent when he and Himuro were practically living in each other's brains. The whole exchange made Aomine look at the ring hanging from Kagami's neck. He forced himself to look away, not understanding this strange unease settling beneath his skin, and walked off.

 

* * *

 

 Kise let out a long breath as he slumped across the sofa in their living room.

 

"Finally," he whined, rubbing his eyes. "Can't believe Kagamicchi made us all clean up and do dishes. Ugh!"

 

"Yeah? Fuck," Aomine said from where he was lying spreadeagled on the floor he just cleaned. "I would have rather had triple footwork training than doing this."

 

"If you want anyone to blame, blame Kuroko," Kagami replied, passing by to his room. "He's the one who invited everyone over. I haven't even had a proper shower yet."

 

"Where is Tetsu anyway? How come he got to ditch clean-up duty?" 

 

"Momoicchi coerced him into seeing her home," Kise replied, turning on the television. "It's only 4pm and I feel like going to sleep already."

 

"That's an amazing idea," Aomine said, standing up and stretching like big cat, joints popping loudly. "I'm gonna go take a nap now."

 

Kise waved him away and mindlessly watched the TV. He was still channel surfing when Kagami joined him after having taken a proper bath. They sat in a comfortable silence, feeling relaxed in each other's company. It was the kind of Sunday that made one want to bask in the soft sunlight filtering through the fluffy clouds outside and coming into the room in bursts of golden. Spring could still be felt in the air, the cloying heat of summer not yet here.

 

"Aominecchi looked relaxed today, didn't he?"

 

"Mhmm, I guess so, yeah."

 

"He just went to have a nap. Guess he isn't stressed about coursework anymore."

 

"Too early to say," Kagami replied. "Maybe tomorrow he'll turn around and go back to working himself to the ground again."

 

"Yeah, well. Even if that happens, you'll be there to bring him back to normal," Kise said with a teasing smile.

 

"Shut your face," Kagami groaned, pushing Kise's face away from him. He laughed lightly at the yelp Kise let out when Kagami accidentally pushed him too hard and he fell off the sofa.

 

"So," Kagami began. "I saw you talking to Kasamatsu-senpai today. He looked pretty happy to see you."

 

"Mm, did he?" Kise asked with feigned nonchalance, as he climbed back on to the sofa.

 

"You know he told me how you stopped contacting him in your third year."

 

"And?"

 

" _And_ he was surprised when he heard you were gonna live with us, said he didn't even know you were studying in Tokyo," Kagami said, eyeing Kise seriously. "But well, that was when I had invited him to help us move last month. He already knew today."

 

"Oh, huh," Kise replied, not looking anywhere near the direction of Kagami. "I was wondering why he didn't seem surprised when he saw me there today."

 

"Okay, cut the bullshit," Kagami snapped. "I may not be Kuroko but I can still tell when you're lying through your teeth."

 

"I don't know what you want me to say?!" Kise said, throwing up his hands in exasperation.

 

"Look, I just wanted to know why you've been avoiding him when you used to cling –“ Kagami ignored Kise's disgruntled "Hey!" and continued, " _Cling_ to him, you know you did. And fine, if you don't wanna talk about it, that's fine. But stop lying to yourself at least."

 

"What's it to you?" Kise demanded, looking displeased and on his way towards pissed.

 

Not a lot of people knew but Kise was extremely private when he wanted to be. He wasn't like Kuroko or even Akashi who simply didn't say anything if they didn't want to; no, Kise tended to spout all sorts of unimportant things in order to make people forget the important ones. He talked louder and laughed wildly when he wanted people to not notice something was wrong with him. And so he was private to the extreme, sometimes even more so than Kuroko because being in the fashion industry had taught him to keep his cards close to his chest.

 

But he had forgotten that by letting these people to come into his life, by becoming genuine friends with them – all of that also meant they now knew all his tells, and could distinguish between an actually happy-Kise as opposed to one who was only faking it.

 

"Look it's only because I thought it was strange that I asked. Plus Kasamatsu-senpai – well, whenever I talked to him, it seemed like he missed you," Kagami said, tone placating. "And I thought you would be happy to know that. But now you're just acting like you don't really give a shit either way."

 

"Kagamicchi," Kise sighed out. "Just let it go, alright? And after today, I’m pretty sure we’re going to start talking again. He asked for my new number.”

 

Kagami didn’t get why Kise looked so glum at that but decided to let it go as Kise asked. He figured Kise would tell him when he was ready. It wasn’t everyday that Kise felt the need to actively hide something from him. Nevertheless, Kagami reached over and rubbed Kise’s head, mussing up his hair in the process; and Kagami didn’t even complain (like he usually did) when Kise decided to snuggle up to him to continue watching the TV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and yup that's it! I might actually get more into Kise's story slowly in the next few chapters. what do you guys think?

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me on [tumblr](http://www.zouislights.tumblr.com) here, although ahhh I haven't been very active there in terms of posting new stuff. BUT I do check in and reply stuff regularly


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